Facebook

December 2010

December 15, 2010

I was hesitant to try a new dip for our holiday party this year because hot artichoke dip has always been my favorite and a hit with guests. However, I was reading all the rave reviews about this dip over at Tasty Kitchen and felt the urge to try something new! TC even turned his nose up when I said I wasn't making hot artichoke dip and he ended up loving it! This dip really does have the flavor of jalapeño peppers. I was a little worried about it being too spicy hot with the addition of 5 jalapeños, but it was just right. You could certainly add more or less seeds from the jalapeños to adjust the heat. I only added 4 or 5 seeds. This dip would also be perfect for football game days in the Fall or for the upcoming football bowl games or Superbowl parties you will all be having! I'll definitely be making this delicious dip again!

Ingredients:

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies, drained

5 whole jalapeño peppers, seeded and diced (leave in a few of the seeds if you want some extra heat)

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Stir together softened cream cheese, sour cream and mayo in a large bowl until smooth. (I used all light ingredients and it still tasted great) Stir in green chiles and jalapeños. Tip #1: Use latex gloves when dicing the jalapeño peppers especially when working with larger quantities. I did not do this and ended up having hands that were on fire for about a day. I think the heat plus my dry wintry skin did not agree with each other. I've also accidentally touched my eye after handling jalapeños and trust me, it stings!

Pour mixture into an oven safe serving dish (approximately a 9x9 dish). In a small bowl, combine the parmesan cheese and panko bread crumbs. Then sprinkle on top of the cream cheese mixture. Bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Then put it under the broiler for 1-3 minutes to lightly brown the top. Tip #2: Keep the oven door slightly open when using the broiler. Let's just say I was in a hurry while preparing for our holiday party and ended up setting the smoke alarm off! Also, keep a close watch so you don't burn the topping. The broiler works quickly.

December 14, 2010

I mentioned this appetizer in my post about our holiday party, but I thought these stuffed mushrooms were worthy of their own post. I absolutely love stuffed mushrooms and even if you don't like mushrooms, you might like these. One of our party guests said that they didn't like mushrooms but they liked these stuffed mushrooms. It must be the delicious filling that disguises the mushroom taste. The filling is creamy, rich and the cayenne pepper adds a little kick. I only had a few left at the end of the night and trust me, they are just as yummy heated up the next day. These are great for entertaining too because you can stuff the mushrooms ahead of time, refrigerate and pop them in the oven before the party! These will not disappoint your holiday guests, in fact, you might convert some mushroom haters. : ) These will definitely become an appetizer staple at my parties.

Stuffed Mushrooms (Makes 24)

Ingredients:

24 whole fresh button mushrooms

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp. vegetable oil

8 ounces cream cheese, softened (I used 1/3 less fat)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp. ground pepper

1/4 tsp. onion powder

1/4 tsp. ground cayenne pepper

Bread crumbs and minced fresh herbs for garnish (optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet with cooking spray. Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel. Carefully remove the stems from the mushroom caps and add the stems to the bowl of a food processor. Set the mushroom caps aside to fill later. Add the garlic to the food processor as well, and pulse until the mushroom stems and garlic are finely chopped. You can also finely chop the mushroom stems and garlic by hand.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the mushroom stems and garlic to the skillet and cook until all the moisture has disappeared, about 5-7 minutes. Lower the heat to medium-low. Stir in the softened cream cheese, parmesan cheese and spices. Stir together until the misture is smooth and creamy; remove from the heat. Using a small spoon, fill each mushroom cap with a generous amount of filling. Arrange the mushroom caps on the prepared baking sheet. Top with bread crumbs, if desired. Bake for 20 minutes or until the mushrooms are hot and liquid starts to form under the caps. Transfer to a serving platter, garnish with fresh herbs if using and serve immediately.

December 13, 2010

It's difficult to top our Holiday party of 2008, the day TC proposed to me, but last night was great fun celebrating the upcoming holidays and the last week of classes EVER for TC and his classmates. They deserved a night of fun after their stressful semester. I love any excuse to entertain and try new recipes, so it was fun for me too! The last hour or so is always chaotic putting all of the appetizers in the oven and setting up all of the food, but the stress is worth it when I see everyone enjoying the food. My goal was to have no leftovers and we barely had anything left! I made way too much for our first party so I cut back on the amount of appetizers. It's always hard to know how hungry people will be and what they will enjoy. Here is the menu of appetizers, desserts and beverages below. I have links to a few recipes and I will post some others this week! Hopefully you will get some great ideas for appetizers and desserts to try for your holiday parties with friends or family!

Pigs in a blanket are the easiest appetizer to make and definitely the most popular. I think I made close to 50 of these because I knew they would be gobbled up and they definitely were! I like to serve them with a nice mustard or fruit preserves to make them seem a little more classy. : )

A cheese tray is simple to put together and most of your guests will enjoy one of the cheeses you display. I used my slate cheeseboard for the first time to display the cheeses, salami, grapes and assorted olives. It comes with chalk so you can write the names of the cheeses right on the board. Love that!You can find it at Williams Sonoma or Crate and Barrel if you are interested in buying one.

This was the only dessert that I made. I had a few other girls help me out with desserts because I knew I wouldn't have time to get everything done. Peanut butter blossoms are one of my favorite Christmas cookies. I posted the recipe last year so if you would like it, just click the link above under the dessert menu.

Our friend Becca brought these decadent red velvet cake bon bons covered with milk or white chocolate. They were sinfully delicious. I have the link to the recipe above.

Our friend Devon brought oreo truffles which were also rich and yummy. I'm a chocaholic so these were right up my alley. The recipe is above as well, just click on the link!

I'll be back this week with recipes for the dip and stuffed mushrooms! I felt they were worthy of their own posts! Happy Monday!

December 05, 2010

Here is another one of my favorite Thanksgiving side dishes that would be great for your upcoming holiday dinners. I love the portobello mushrooms and bacon in this dish. They both give the green beans great flavor and anything is better with bacon as we all know. This green bean dish is more unique and tasty than your typical green bean casserole, in my opinion. A little more healthy too I would think.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. fresh green beans (cut to two inch length)

4 large portobello mushrooms (1 lb.)

3 T. vegetable oil

1/4 cup finely chopped shallots or onions

4 oz. sliced smoked bacon or more if you like (usually 1 slice = 1 oz.)

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

Directions:

Wash the green beans and cut to 2 inch length. Clean out the dark gills of each portobello cup with a spoon. Cut the portobellos into short strips. Steam/blanch the green beans. You want them to be tender but still a little crisp. Drain and rinse with cold water so they don't keep cooking. Set aside.

Heat oil in large skillet and cook mushrooms for about 5 minutes. Add onion and cook a few more minutes. You can remove the onion and mushrooms from the skillet and cook the bacon next or you can cook the bacon ahead of time. I like to cook the bacon ahead of time, so that it can cool and I can tear it up into bite size pieces. Whatever you choose to do, make the sure the bacon is torn into bite size pieces. Add the green beans and bacon to the mushroom and onion mixture in the skillet and warm until ready to eat.